Salve Curio,
Well in the meantime I've been involved in the porn industry.
Kidding.
In 2005 I've graduated as a master in English and German, and against my own intuition but through the advice of an (ex-)girlfriend, I pursued a one-year course of teacher training. Now, I like teaching, but apparently other teachers don't like me because they thought I was too funny. I stopped the course somewhere in March 2006 and remained involved in student life until the end of the academy year.
In the meantime, I held various jobs. I've translated a book about XBox tuning from German into Dutch, worked at a student restaurant for a while, and was then hired as a private teacher at a highly dubious institution whose director had the bad reputation of not paying his people, and was a convicted pimp and fraud. Needless to say, I was dying to leave there, and the opportunity presented itself in November, when I applied for copywriter at one of Belgium's biggest technology companies, and was subsequently hired. I've been doing that job since January.
Other than that, I'm still writing. I unsuccessfully tried to publish some earlier volumes of poetry and prose in 2006, and I've recently finished my seventh volume of poetry, titled "Moscow" (Moskou). I'm currently about 3/4 through writing the major finale of my sci-fi cycle, called "Hyperborea". I'm at about 540 pages now, and still counting. I even included a nod to the Roman communities in the book, by including the corrupted planet of Nova Roma, and various names of Romans we all know so well.
A few weeks ago I moved into my own place together with one of my best friends, and it's nice here. I still live in Ghent, the city of cities (after Rome). I also had the pleasure of going on two business trips, one to Cologne, the other to London.
On a personal level I've just begun to resurface from a darker place. Making the transition from college life (sleeping long, staying up late, doing whatever I bloody well like, relationships), to the life of a wage slave has been much harder than I thought, and it all kind of crept under my skin. Especially on days when there's not much to do at work, I feel particulary burned out, because I essentially like my job - if there's something to do
. It was also odd because in my social circles I'm usually among the oldest, and at work I was suddenly the youngest colleague. I've turned 24 this year, and Saturn's Return is edging closer. I guess I'm a bit afraid to not have done everything I really want to do when I'm young before I turn 30 (travel to Scandinavia and Brazil, publish some work, meet even more interesting people...).
My interest in Rome was actually rekindled by Tarquinius's articles about his emperors, and Atticus's stay in Italy, where he was taught living Latin. I'm still with one foot on the threshold of Germanic culture, but I also still feel drawn to many aspects of Greco-Roman culture. Maybe I'm just a quintessential European
.
I guess that about covers it. Probably a lot more than you bargained for, heh.
Cura ut valeas maxime,
Draco